Decades ago, someone asked a friend's parents what they wished for their children. My friend's father said, "To be useful." Her mother said, "To know God."
These aims seem more challenging than ever.
Cheyenne River Lakota elder Tiokasin Ghosthorse recently advised, "Stop learning about the Earth. Start learning from the Earth". There will not be peace on Earth until there is peace with Earth." I take this call for deep listening to the Earth as a necessary and extraordinary challenge.
After atmospheric physicist Anastassia Makarieva learned about a proposal to massively cut down boreal forests and bury the wood in the ocean in order to absorb CO -- from the atmosphere and ease global warming, she wrote "On Nature's Complexity and Human Morality." While recognizing that the ability of humans to destroy the biosphere is now unprecedented, she advocates for dissenting from hypnotic, simplistic views, for speaking up and outlasting the propaganda.
I try for peace between my ears. Sometimes, directing myself to soften the space under my chin or to notice the space behind me"allows for fuller breathing while I read the news:
The E.P.A. used to consider how many lives would be saved when setting air-pollution rules. In a reversal, the agency now plans to calculate only the cost to industry.
Richard Heinberg posted a wonderful list of resources for nourishing the bioregional economy. I do not understand his support for e-vehicles or for "renewables" (solar PVs and industrial wind) since they cannot be made without fossil fuels, extractions, water, and international supply chains that may well include slave labor. Since solar and wind provide only intermittent power, they require backup from the fossil-fuel-powered grid OR from battery energy storage systems (BESS), which pose fire and explosion hazards. Why not promote REDUCING our overall use of energy, individually-owned vehicles and digital technologies? Why not encourage living within our bioregion's offerings of food, water, energy and ores?
Check out the concerns of Worthington Massachusetts' Coalition Against Industrial Solar and BESS Systems: Environmental contamination poses risks to soil and ground water. Lithium-ion batteries pose fire and explosion hazards. Industrial-scale systems result in lost farmland and forest habitat. Typically, industrial-scale systems are owned by out-of-state and foreign corporations. "By-right" loopholes remove local permitting power. Projects lack decommissioning and insurance safeguards. Small-town planning boards are overwhelmed. Along transmission lines, projects can require removing healthy trees.
To learn yet more about BESS problems, attend Never Again Moss Landing's retrospective about the Vistra BESS disaster one year later, on Saturday, January 17th.
What happened? Why do nearby residents still seek answers? Why does the state go for energy targets over public safety? What disinformation does the EPA tell? The Path Ahead: Demanding Transparency. The Path Ahead: Demanding Accountability.
In Ohio, a transformer explosion caused outages, and "electric meters on multiple houses" blew off"like they did in Stockton, California in 2015. People about to get smart meters (i.e. in New Mexico)"beware. Opt out if you can!
In Washington County, Tennessee, after many citizens, including a seven-year-old testified against a proposed rezoning (she's about 52 seconds in to the video) that would allow a federal nuclear contractor BWX Technologies (BWXT) to expand depleted uranium manufacturing on land that includes floodplain, sits yards from farmland and homes, and would jeopardize drinking water, commissioners voted four to two against the rezoning. This fight is not over yet. The final county vote takes place on January 26.
Australia's Bureau of Statistics revealed that dementia has massively increased in the country, including among people 30-44. Dementia is now the leading cause of death. Neuroscientist Dr. Mark Williams believes that increased dementia relates to peoples' increased screen use. "We no longer use our brains" We don't need to calculate anymore. We don't have to consider anymore. We don't have to argue with people anymore. We don't have to connect with people anymore in the real world--
Catherine Price and Jonathan Haidt have just released The Amazing Generation. Part graphic novel and part scrapbook, it offers interactive challenges and teens who have regrets around tech use. The book presents The Rebel's Code: 1)Use technology as a tool. Don't let it use you. And 2) Fill your life with real friendship, freedom and fun.
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